New Years Eve - Adult Style

It was in the early 00's that Michael and I celebrated New Year's Eve with style and activity!  We dressed up and attended a party at some hotel near LAX.  There was dinner and dancing and conversation with other adults!  What a time it was!

We didn't miss those nights because along came the kids and we didn't have the energy to get a babysitter, get dressed, and venture outside the sanctuary of our domesticity.   But then an incredible opportunity presented itself when my parents planned a trip to DC during the holidays this year.  The possibilities were endless!  We finally decided on going to Habana Village for a pre-fixe dinner, a salsa lesson and a night of dancing to welcome year 2015.  

Since we made our reservations late, we had to attend early dinner sitting at 6:30pm.  The food was delicious!  Corn and cheese empanadas and butternut squash soup for appetizers.  I had stuffed pork medallion and Michael had lomo soltado for our main entrees.  Our dessert of chocolate lava cake was not very Cuban, but was appreciated nonetheless.  Our waiter asked us if we wanted to try a very Cuban coffee and of course we agreed.  It's called "Bombon" and it's a shot of espresso with a dollop of steamed, condensed milk.  Michael informed me it tastes just like the Colombian "Cafe con leche."  

The salsa teacher was late, but it timed perfectly with the end of our dinner.  I had taken salsa lessons many times before but had never advanced past the basic.  Michael had taken a handful and was very concerned about learning the moves since his last lesson had been about 9 years prior.  He needn't have worried because he got the moves so quickly!  We danced a lot but it remained the basic moves that we learned at the lesson.  But since we did it so much (and maybe because of our gradually increasing inebriation) we started doing new turns!  

We miraculously lasted until the midnight countdown, but I was ready to leave after our first dance into the new year.  My feet were hurting despite having only 1-1/2" heels.  My New Year's resolution among others is to get my bunions removed so I can dance the night away with our new moves!

Holocaust Museum

I've lived in many cities near which is a Holocaust museum, but I've never visited one.  My friend Sherrie had once told me of her school project-mandated visit to the L.A. one.   There was some sort of dark tunnel through which patrons walk and hear words such as "slavery," "torture," etc.  This is what I thought I would see in addition to gory images and informative placards.

D.C.'s Holocaust Museum was not as gory.  It was somber and informative.  I had wondered if I should have brought the kids.  As I passed through the exhibits, I saw little kids about Simone's age asking their parents and grandparents about what they saw and realized that the images were not too horrific for young minds but definitely evoked the gravity of the atrocity.   I'm still glad I didn't bring the kids because they would have been so bored before we finished the first floor of exhibits.  I wouldn't have been able to read as much as I did if they were around begging me to move forward.

What I didn't expect to happen was for me to become so depressed.  Sure the subject is depressing, but that usually fascinates me.  I think I was overloaded with the barbarity of the Germans that it just weighed so heavily on my brain.  After a floor and a half of exhibits, my brain didn't want to process any more blatant disrespect for human life.  Or maybe it was just that at this time the exhibits turned their focus to the concentration camps and I just didn't want to think about it the gas chambers and incinerators and mass graves.

A feeling I didn't expect to encounter was rage.  How did an entire nation decide it was a good idea to follow a lunatic?  Of course, there were probably a few Germans who thought Hitler was cuckoo and probably left the country instead of being forced to participate in inflicting genocide.  But a lot of people were on board with boycotting Jewish stores, burning their synagogues, and then shoving them into ghettos.  What united cruelty!

There was an exhibit that was geared toward children's learning about the Holocaust.  The narrator is a young Jewish German boy whose once-content life was gradually stripped of liberties.  By showing the change in living quarters, kids can feel how dismal life became for Jews as the Nazis continually shuffled the them towards extinction.  I have already told Simone and Max a little about Nazis and anti-semitism, but I haven't shown them images.   This exhibit will be just right of a visual exposure to the subject.

Santa Visits

My parents came to DC to visit us!  They arrived so late on Christmas Night that the kids didn't get to see them until the following morning.

My mom greeted us at the door of their hotel room, but my dad was nowhere to be found.  My mom posited, "Oh, he must have gone to the lobby to do an errand.  He'll be back."  The kids were not concerned because they were attracted to the pile of gifts waiting for them underneath the gigantic Christmas tree.

After the kids settled down, a surprise visitor emerged from the bathroom!

Santa what almond eyes you have!

We then opened presents and had a nice relaxing day with my parents.

We're Not Alone

I thought for sure that come Winter, there would be just a sprinkling of people here at the camp.  But no!  It's over 50% filled!

Go away, people!  Drive south if you must!

Winter Hike

My images of a cold Winter were that the family would be holed up inside, fearful to venture outside, and catching cabin fever.  But this Winter has been mild and we have become emboldened to still enjoy the outdoors every time the sun emerges.

One morning, after a series of cloudy days, the sun peeked out and I resolved to get the kids moving by taking a hike near the base.  After a hearty lunch with soup and rice, we set out on the same path we had visited in the Summer.  

Hurry up, Mommy!  Stop taking pictures!

When we had gone on this path earlier in the year, the foliage was thick and deceived how close we actually were to a pond.  The summer forest felt more mysterious because you couldn't see what was around the corner.  The winter forest does have more gnarly trees, but we get a bigger picture of our surroundings and thus scales down the expanse of the forest.

Autumn colors have long since left so any sign of green intrigues my eye.  

Moss!

Some sort of berried cover, like mistletoe on the ground!

Rough Housing

The kids love to beat up their daddy because he lets them.  It started with wrestling with Max and then throwing him all over the bed, which the little guy loved.  Simone then wanted in on the action and now all three attack each other.  But sometimes Michael likes to pretend that the kids have the upper hand and will just lie there helpless, feigning agony.

Don't feel too sorry for Michael - he's lovin' every minute of it.

Michael's Birthday Cake

I make Michael a bundt birthday cake every year.  It's usually angel food cake, but this year I make a swirly choco/vanilla cake with chocolate chips inside.  It was decadent but Michael didn't devour it as fast as he has the angel food cake in the past.

I think I might try the cake again - before his next birthday.  But then again, he wants me to put him on a diet.  Maybe I'll do it at 40 1/2.  

Baking on the Grill

When we were designing the bus, I asked a friend whose family had a bus conversion when they were growing up if they used their oven often.  She said her mother used it only twice in all the travels they did and that prompted me to not include it in our bus conversion.

But we're not just traveling in our bus - we are living  in it full-time now!  As the days wore on in the summer, I found that I missed dishes that could use an oven.  Like my beloved fish sticks, baked salmon, cookies, and most importantly, birthday cakes!   

On a trip to Williams-Sonoma, I looked for a good loaf pan that could withstand the ferocity of a grill's heat.  While I found a thick, double-layered metal pan without the non-stick coating, Michael and the kids sampled a pumpkin bread that the store was handing out.  Now I had to buy the pan and the bread mix!  Unfortunately, I only tried out both items recently.  Results were mixed.

The kids are excited to help me frost the bread.

What the ...

I'm still getting used to baking in a grill.  In general, I find that the small space of the grill intensifies the heat at the edges of the pan and moderately heats the food in the middle.  If I had a bigger oven, there would be a more even distribution of the heat.  So when I popped out the loaf, I had to cut off the charred pieces around the edges.  I didn't have to, but I wanted the eating experience to be enjoyable.  

The kids had a great time spreading the frosting.  They put it on too thinly at first, but were excited when I told them to glob on more frosting so as to not tear at the bread.  Max is just like his mother when she was little - sampling the frosting first.  

Pinterest Bug

I read some Architectural Digest that my sister didn't want anymore and I think I'm going to be sick.   I feel a Pinterest Bug coming on!!!

Christmas Buffet

Again we ate at the Army Navy Club for our holiday meal.  This time we took more time to take pictures.

When we had first gone there, we overheard a little boy ask his mother, "Is that man made of chocolate?"  This piqued my interest and I looked around for what might be a life-size cacao statue.  What we found was this:

I can see why the kid accused the man of being too sweet.  He's pretty glossy!

This time I took the time to catalog our surroundings.  One of the neat things at the club is their accoutrements in the bathroom!  Ok, it might be old-news to those who frequent better establishments, but to us it's schnazzy!  Thick paper towels!  Qtips! Lotion! Combs swimming in disinfectant! And the piece de resistance ... Mouthwash!!!!

Seriously, the place is as cool as Fonzie.  As fancy as Iggy.  As smooth as my dad's head.  The food is excellent!  Check it out!

  

For starters, they have several smoked fish, shrimp cocktail galore, 7 salads to choose from, and the sign that you have made it in this world ... butter scooped in the shape of balls.  

Then the main dishes include: duck confit, pan-seared grouper with pea risotto, lobster mac-n-cheese, cornish game hen, prime rib, turkey, and all the holiday sides!

Simone discovered she loves caesar salad.

Michael discovered that Max indeed does not like ham if it doesn't look like bacon.

We were able to get some nice pictures again for the special occasion, but it took a lot of photos to get Max to look as stunning as he had before.  All he wanted to do was make faces and pose funny.  I think the picture above worked because Michael must have given Max a stern command to look happy.  And see the death grip on the boy?  Stay!

All in all it was a good time once again.

Sharp-Dressed Men

Who doesn't love an opportunity to dress up?  Max loves it and he also has developed a penchant for making funny faces for the camera.  

Luckily we sometimes catch him in a agreeable mood.

Santa Bubble Burst

This past year has been wrought with endless questions from Simone about whether or not Santa is real.  I told her that many people believe in him, but that I've never personally seen him.  I didn't tell her how I figured out the legend was fake when I was her age.

The year was 1980, I was 7-years-old, and Kissing Barbie was all I wanted for Christmas.  I had suspected that maybe Santa Claus was a farce, but wasn't sure.  Until .........   late Christmas evening - or even early Christmas morning when Santa's cover was blown.   I guess my anticipation for the beloved holiday had made me sleep only lightly that night.   I must have heard my bunk bed stairs creak because I woke up to find my dad placing a present about the size of a Barbie doll at the foot of my bed.  I sat up very quickly and asked what he was doing.  He was very cross, shooshed me and told me to go back to sleep.  I immediately did as told but then immediately disobeyed when I heard him leave the room.  I read the box label which said that Santa had given me the present.  Now ... unless Santa's secret identity was a Filipino architect in El Monte, things were not adding up.  I realized at that moment that parents and advertisers all across America were lying to innocent children!

So when Simone has ever asked about the validity of Santa's existence, I never tell her that I believe in him.  I give her an answer that skirts the truth to keep some magic alive without incriminating myself as a perjurer.  I take that back.  Last  year, I really played up the existence of Santa Claus and baked cookies for him at the request of Simone.  She must have heard about this practice at school because I certainly never told her about it.  But I played along (maybe because it involved food) and even wrote a letter from Santa addressed to Simone and Max.  It's a bittersweet feeling to have outright lied to them to instill a little magic in the holiday.  They liked it at the time and that euphoria lasted about 9 months.  At the end of Summer, Simone started asking if Michael had been the one to eat the cookies we had left out for Santa.  I told her an emphatic no.  At first she let it go and didn't even bother to think that I was the culprit.  But as Christmas drew nearer, she thought longer about the mystery of Santa and started setting her sights on me.

SIMONE: "Did youuuuu eat Santa's cookies, Mommy?"
ME: "Eh ... I don't know ..."

OF COURSE I KNEW!!!! I did eat them (voraciously) and I was lying to Simone.   Last I had talked to Michael he felt we should keep up the magic.   But Simone's fantasy barrier was thin and showing signs of disintegration.  

Several opportunities to have breakfast with Santa came up and I asked the kids if they wanted to partake.

ME: "Hey guys, do you want to have breakfast with Santa and tell him what you want for Christmas?"
MAX: (Silent, processing the information)
SIMONE: "NO!"
ME: "Why not?  Are you sure?"
SIMONE: "Yes."
ME:  "Oh, you do want to see him!?"
SIMONE: "No!"
ME:  "Oh, you're sure you do not want to see him."
SIMONE:  "Yes."


Michael later asked me if we wanted to do it with the kids and he was surprised that kids didn't want to attend.  I thought that maybe I should make sure Max did or did not want to go.  If he did, we would sustain the magic for him.

ME:  "Max, do you want to see Santa?  You get to tell him want you want for Christmas!"
MAX: (excited) "I want to see Santa!"
SIMONE: (deadpan) "Why?  He's just a guy in a suit."
MAX:  (not exctied) "Oh."


Despite this confession to Max, Simone sometimes, out of the blue, would tell me that she believed in Santa.  I would tell her, "That's great!" She would ask me, "Why?"  My response would be, "Because he's magical!"

Finally the last nail was driven into Santa's coffin when Simone asked Michael, "Did you eat Santa's cookies last year, Daddy?" to which he replied matter-of-factly, "Yes."   I guess he had changed his mind about keeping hope alive, and thus died the lore with Simone.

Honestly, I'm glad the cat is out of the bag!  We've never given her a present that said it was from Santa and thinly expounding his existence and goings-on was uncomfortable.   Max knows the truth now too and now maybe you do too.

Happy Birthday Michael (and Jesus)!

On Christmas Eve, we received 11 packages at our P.O. Box in time for the holiday gift-wrapping extravaganza!  While the kids slept soundly we decorated the bench with gifts from family and friends.  

I didn't bother drawing up a sign to warn the kids to wait for us to open presents.  Maybe I knew deep down that they would wait.  Or maybe I didn't care if they opened it all up?  Because we had finished the wrapping at around 1 in the morning, I knew I would want to sleep in and not worry about cataloging the kids' surprised faces upon each present's reveal.

Simone herself was very tired and didn't wake up until after all of us had.  Max, on the other hand, was stirring around 4:30am because he had to go to the bathroom.  He luckily went back to sleep in my arms and that bought me a couple of hours.  Eventually, I woke up to Max prying open my eyelids and politely ordering me to wake up.  

It was very interesting to see how differently the kids opened their presents.   At first, they took turns opening presents from the loot.  But Simone has always liked to sort and she did this with her presents as if to make sense of the chaotic placement.   Michael likes to pepper the stash with different wrappings here and there and with different recipients spread out.  After the first gifts, Simone started stacking her gifts in a pile and handing Max his gifts, which he tore open immediately.  Only after Simone had assessed all the boxes did she tear into hers.  

Michael got us such great gifts this year.  Max got a cool hat; Simone got beautiful jewelry; and I got a much needed wallet to sort my messy purse.   Michael put icing on my present by catering it to my love of The Walking Dead.  

All presents should be unwrapped at Christmas, but I wanted to try limiting what they opened and played with this year because of our limited space.  I would let them open one new thing every week to keep the season alive!  But Michael nixed that idea and it turned out to be so great for the kids' relationship.  They played all do together without fighting!  But here was the aftermath of the revelry.

Taking Manila or In the Philippines with Dewey

At the Army Navy Club is a library that specializes in military genres.  When we visited it during the orientation tour, our guide meant to highlight a peculiar item called a "death mask."  It is a custom among some military that when a beloved member dies, a mold is made of the deceased's head.  The resulting imitation is the "death mask" that we ooo-ed and aahh-ed when we visited the library.  Something else, however, caught my eye.  A tiny green book on which I saw the word "Philippines."
Some guy at the eve of the 20th century wrote about the impressions of my native country and her peoples and it was not favorable!  It was downright shocking and a little enraging.  The author pointed out positive attributes but it paled in comparison to the negative ones.


"The hot and moist air, while unfavorable to Europeans and Northern Americans, enable more languid and contented races to thrive ...

The aborigines, Negritos, are physically small and mentally low, so incapable of improvement that scientific reasoners do not regret their dying out.  The savages, still infesting the mountain and forest recesses, have never submitted to the Spanish arsenal of sword, thumbscrew, rack, damp cells, and strappado; they remain unenlightened ...

Taken at their best, that is, unaffected by the mistraining under the departed government (the Spanish) which fostered treachery and cunning by its cruelty, the Filipinos are asserted to be honest,  hospitable and affable."



Why do the Americans even bother to liberate us from the Spanish?  Resources of course!  Here is what the Philippines have to offer.


"The article of produce by which Europe and America know the place is hemp, Manila rope being used extensively in whaling fleets and the present navies, wire rope not having ousted it from its pride of place as yet.  But the soil is fertile for grain, mainly rice, the main item on the Philippine bill of daily fare, bread fruit, plantains, mangoes, etc.; some culture is given to cotton, tobacco, sugar-cane and sisal; it is stated assuringly that the United States could be supplied with all the sugar needed from our new acquisition alone."


It's not an incredible surprise that conquering nations think this of the Filipinos, but I was stirred irately to read such a candid account.

For a Woman

The kids and I recently watched Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  We all are enchanted with it and are in the midst of watching it again.

In the final scene between the antagonist and protagonist, the camera focuses on the latter, the White Witch who is hell-bent on killing Peter the former.  She has the look of juicy murder in her eyes and this does not go unnoticed by Max who says,

"For a woman, she looks furious!"

Still in Boxes

Max and Simone loves boxes!  Christmas time generates a lot of opportunities to use boxes for robot costumes, hideouts, and dollhouses. When Max was not even 1 year old and Simone was 4, they were small enough to fit into the boxes.  Even though they are bigger now, they never pass up an opportunity to hang out in a box if it's big enough!

New Food Again

Max used to be very adventurous when he was a toddler.  Rather, he didn't complain when I gave him food.  He just ate it!  As he reached age 2, he started to refuse to eat what I put in front of him, and it only escalated after that.  I tried putting him in preschool so he could see other kids eating and thus want to try those same foods.  That plan backfired because all his classmates were equally if not more finicky than he.

At a recent sushi lunch, the kids had been on the mend from a cold and I wanted them to have some warm miso soup.  Max of course didn't want any so I told him how when he was a littler kid, he ate miso soup all the time.  When I make chicken noodle soup, I call it Kai-Lan soup because it resembles the depiction that the cartoon makes of udon.  So this time I told him that miso soup is Hello Kitty soup.  Who knows if that helped at all, but after he had his first sip, he looked up at me and said, with much surprise "... (sip) ... (pensive pause) ... I like it!"

Tonight, we were watching a movie and, out of the blue, he told me, "I want to try a real hamburger."  I couldn't not hold in my delight and said, "That's awesome!  We'll work on getting you one."  I hope he likes hamburgers when he tries it because the only protein he's been getting is from chicken nuggets and tofu.  It'll be nice to give him variety.

Sticker Time

I bought Simone some cheap stickers while we were at Target and here is what she did with them.

Lookin' good, Simone and Crazy Haired Baby!

Baby, It's (Sorta) Cold Outside

The plunge into cold weather in DC has not been as drastic as I thought it would be.  The first days were indeed a shock to the kids' and my system, but we are now greeting the cold days as any other factoid of life and are not hampered by it.  

We've been at the same campsite for the past 3 months and are reserved here for the next 3.  It's a good location in that we get decent internet access, but we are not along the main thoroughfare and thus not as exposed to passersby.  

Our bus is second from the right

I never thought I would think of 50 degrees as a warm day!  When the temperatures rise to 50s and it's sunny out, we like to air out the bus.  If you look at the roof our bus, you can see our bathroom vent and escape hatch propped open.  The crisp fresh air feels great replacing the stale interior air.  

Autumn Play

These are just pictures of the kids playing in the cold weather.